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Michael Hitchens
Macquarie University
Australia
michaelh@ics.mq.edu.au
ABSTRACT
Role-playing games have grown and evolved into a
large number of forms in the last thirty years,
spanning digital as well as non-digital media.
They demonstrate a wide variety in the number of
participants, style of play and the formal and
informal systems that govern them. Despite this
diversity players at least seem to think they know
when something is a role-playing game. Yet there is
no commonly accepted definition which both
captures games generally accepted as role-playing
games and distinguishes them from other, similar,
games which begs the question, whether roleplaying games are united by anything more than a
colloquial name. Additionally, research involving
these games is hampered by lack of a widely
accepted definition of what constitutes a roleplaying game, as it is then not even possible to
clearly delineate the subject of such research. In
Anders Drachen
IT University of Copenhagen
Denmark
drachen@itu.dk
1.INTRODUCTION
Role-playing games, in their modern form, are
generally held to have originated with Dungeons
and Dragons in the 1970s (Mason 2004). Since then
they have evolved into a wide variety of styles and
media, including both digital and non-digital
examples and with player numbers in an
individual game ranging from a single person to
the thousands. The differences between these
forms can be so extensive that players of one may
dismiss another as not being a role-playing game at
all (Dormans 2006).
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In the words of [Ste03] Diegesis is what is true within the game world
Pen-and-paper/table-top
Systemless
Live-action role-playing
Single Player digital
Massively Multi-Player Online
Freeform
Pervasive
This is not intended as an exhaustive list of all
forms of role-playing game, nor a claim that each is
significantly different to all the others. For
example, under some definitions Systemless could
be considered a sub-type of pen-and-paper, under
others a sub-type of live-action role-playing. For
present purposes that some of the above may be
closely related is however immaterial, what is
important is that the examples in the list, as a
whole, have been selected to ensure a coverage
across the breath of role-playing games to provide
a firm basis for developing a workable definition.
Some of the examples in the list are considerably
more widely played than others, but the intent is to
arrive at a definition that covers all role-playing
games, not simply the more popular ones.
Descriptions of some of the above have been given
elsewhere, for example by Dormans (2006), where
four of the listed forms are described. For
completeness, and ease of analysis, all seven are
described below, although some of the following
content differs minimally from the existing
literature
3.1 Pen-and-Paper/Table-Top
Pen-and-paper and table-top both refer to the
original form of role-playing game from the 1970s.
Players, usually numbering in the single figures, sit
around a table or occupy seating in the same room.
Typically all players except one play a single
character each and use that character to interact
with the game world. The remaining player,
variously termed dungeon master, game master or
storyteller, is responsible for the game world
beyond the players characters. The power balance
between players and game master may vary
between examples, and even within a particular
game, see Young (2005), and there may sometimes
be more than one game master, but the latter is
unusual. Play of the game typically involves verbal
description, either by the players giving their
characters actions or intentions, or by the game
master describing the results of actions or the
elements of the game world the players encounter.
This form makes extensive use of written materials,
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psychodrama; a method within group psychotherapy where the participants take roles in improvisational
dramatizations of emotionally charged situations, Psychodrama (2007)
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3.7 Pervasive
Pervasive and ubiquitous games are typically
digital games which extend the game play beyond
the computer screen. For example, where player
movement in the real world equates to avatar
movement in the game world, as in Botfighters.
Pervasive role-playing is slightly different, in that it
does not necessarily include a digital component.
Instead it is essentially an extension of the liveaction form. In the latter there are usually
boundaries (of various strength) defining which
parts of the real world are being used to represent
the game world. In pervasive role-playing these
boundaries are much weaker or even essentially
non-existent, to the extent that anything in the real
world, even people not playing the game, can take
on a significance for the play of the game. As any
part of the real world, or anything in it, can
potentially be part of the game, it is obvious that
the geographical range of, and the possible ways of
interacting with, the game world are extensive. In
most other ways this form resembles live-action
role-playing. For more detail see Montola (2007)
and Jonsson (2007).
4. FEATURES OF ROLE-PLAYING
GAMES
As can be seen from the above there is significant
variation amongst role-playing games, including
the mechanisms supporting game play and the
play styles that typify them. While this may make
it appear unlikely that a useful overarching
definition can be found there are also considerable
areas of similarity.
4.1 Character
All the examples discussed share a use of playercontrolled characters. One of the earliest examples
of a role-playing game including a self-definition,
Perrin et al. (1980, p.3) focuses on character,
defining a fantasy role-playing games as
A game of character development,
simulating the process of personal
development commonly called life
These characters are the primary (in most cases the
sole) means by which the players can interact with
the game world. The methods by which the
characters are defined vary, in some cases being
purely quantitative, in others extensively
qualitative and in others a mixture of the two, but
in all cases the characters are regarded as
individuals, with their own unique place in the
game world (some experimental Scandinavianproduced role-playing game modules have
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Of course, the term first-person shooter is not strongly defined either and the games that have that label
applied to them vary greatly. Some do offer extensive dialogue choices, etc, but there does not appear to be a
game which offers all the features here identified for role-playing games yet is commonly termed a first person
shooter.
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5. DEFINITION
The above discussion allows for a definition of a
role-playing game based on the analysis of existing
forms.
1.
Game World: A role-playing game is a
game set in an imaginary world. Players
are free to choose how to explore the game
world, in terms of the path through the
world they take, and may revisit areas
previously explored. The amount of the
game world potentially available for
exploration is typically large.
2.
Participants: The participants in the games
are divided between players, who control
individual characters, and game masters
(who may be represented in software for
digital examples) who control the
remainder of the game world beyond the
player characters. Players affect the
evolution of the game world through the
actions of their characters.
3.
Characters: The characters controlled by
players may be defined in quantitative
and/or qualitative terms and are defined
individuals in the game world, not
identified only as roles or functions. These
characters can potentially develop, for
example in terms skills, abilities or
personality, the form of this development
is at least partially under player control
and the game is capable of reacting to the
changes.
4.
Game Master: At least one, but not all, of
the participants has control over the game
world beyond a single character. A term
commonly used for this function is game
master, although many others exist. The
balance of power between players and
game masters, and the assignment of these
roles, can vary, even within the playing of
a single game session. Part of the game
master function is typically to adjudicate
on the rules of the game, although these
rules need not be quantitative in any way
or rely on any form of random resolution.
5.
Interaction: Players have a wide range of
configurative options for interacting with
the game world through their characters,
6. DISCUSSION
If the definition proposed above is to have use it
should at least be able to distinguish role-playing
games from similar forms. In this section a number
of game forms are examined, highlighting how the
As it may not apply to any game as suggest, for example, by Juul (2001).
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proposed definition distinguished them from roleplaying games while previous definitions do not.
First person shooters fulfil the requirements of
many existing definitions of role-playing games.
They have participants, a game world and a
controlling power outside the players. The
stereotypical form of a Dungeons and Dragons game
finds the players involved in a dungeon-bash.
Here they move through a maze of corridors,
killing and looting as they go, This is little different
to the play of many first person shooters. Yet the
dungeon-bash is regarded as a role-playing game
and first person shooters are not. Most of the latter
lack the character development aspect, which is
crucial to role-playing games. They also typically
feature a very narrow range of options for
interacting with the game world, e.g. the option of
communication with dungeon inhabitants which,
however rarely exercised, does exist in the tabletop form. Even those digital games that do include
character development, and are said to have a roleplaying aspect, lack some other element covered in
the proposed definition. For example, Deus Ex,
follows the traditional first person shooter
treatment of space, dividing it into levels and not
allowing players free return to already explored
areas. One first person shooter which does allow
free exploration and revisitation is System Shock 2.
It also has player controlled character development
and extensive means of interaction with the
environment. Where it fails in meeting the
definition is that the environmental interaction is
not quite what would be found in a role-playing
game. In particular, the player has no choice in the
interaction with non-player characters the player
is spoken to, but never speaks back. Interacting via
dialogue is an important aspect of role-playing
games, as noted in the definition.
Adventure games, such as Monkey Island or Syberia,
on the other hand, make extensive use of dialogue
interaction including, most importantly, giving the
player some choice of dialogue options. These
games lack character development as it is found in
role-playing games, often limit the players
navigation of space and usually limit interaction
with the world to dialogue and certain object
interactions.
Other examples can be found of games which are
similar to, but not quite, role-playing. Such games
fit within various of the existing definitions but are
excluded by the one presented here. 3D
platformers have been discussed above. Cops and
robbers, and other similar childrens games, lack a
directing influence which could be labelled a game
7. CONCLUSION
Role-playing games, although they exist in a
variety of forms, which include great differences in
player number and cross the divide between the
digital and non-digital, possess a range of common
features that allow them to be distinguished from
other game types. Existing definitions have
typically not captured this distinction, typically
being concerned with the aspect of role-playing or
specific types of role-playing games. An analysis of
various examples of role-playing games in this
paper has enabled the identification of a range of
characteristics. On that basis a definition for them
could be proposed which is much more successful
at separating role-playing games from other,
similar, game forms.
Much of the outline of the proposed definition is
not new, sharing game world, characters and game
masters with many existing definitions. However
the analysis has shown that not only are these
important components of a role-playing game but
that such a game includes each in a very specific
manner, which together provides an a means of
identifying this game form. Particularly important
to the proposed definition is the treatment of
character, space and interaction within a roleplaying game. Characters can develop, under
player control, within the game world and through
them the player is able to interact with that world
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